The Isle of Man-registered tanker British Holly was anchored in Manila Bay when the duty crew noticed some wet footprints on the deck. After these were inspected it was discovered the ship’s inflatable six-man life raft and two immersion suits were missing.

The ship’s master reported the incident to the relevant authorities among them the Philippine Ports Authority. A vessel was dispatched by the Philippine Coast Guard’s Port State Control Center Manila at about 14.45.

“Through the ship master, it was gathered that the robbers could have boarded the tanker using grapnel hook.”

Irritating for sure, but an act of piracy?! That might be taking it a bit far... I think that we have to be very careful how we use the term piracy so it doesn't get the wrong meaning! If we call all acts of crime on ships piracy, people will just start to think that piracy isn't that big a deal!

The people behind this are just common thieves, not pirates! This happens all the time when you visit poor countries! I've worked on ships where we padlocked everything that wasn't welded or bolted to the ship, in certain countries, because we knew that the port workers would steal it if they could! Even the mooring crews you have to take onboard in the Suez canal will steal anything they can given the chance (anything they can fit in their boat at least) so are they pirates too?In certain African countries, ships at anchor have armed guards onboard to ward against thieves.